Who Will Lead Them Now?

Considers what the death of Palestinian leader Yasir Arafat might mean for Middle East peace. Reaction from world leaders which offers some hope; Questions of who will fill the leadership void; Failure of the U.S. to act on the optimism by getting peace talks underway; New chairman of the PLO who is Mahmoud Abbas, a moderate former Prime Minister and longtime No. 2 in the organization who will share authority with current Prime Minster Ahmed Qurei; Belief of many that an election will be won by Abbas and why that would be encouraging; The current plan of the Bush administration which to wait; Burden which is on the Palestinians to turn themselves into a model partner before the U.S. or Israel will offer a helping hand; Why this is not really possible; Suggestion that waiting will be defeating to the peace process and that all parties need to sever old stances to make peace possible.